Reading and Writing in Japanese!

Students at Maloney are exposed to all three types of writing beginning in pre-kindergarten. In third grade, students formally study how to read each of the 46 hiragana characters.There are three types of characters used in Japan: Kanji, Hiragana, and Katanana
NEW! Here is a beautifully done article about writing in Japanese and how it has changed with technology, etc. Lots of pictures! Click here.
Read more about how each are used here.
Read a fun detailed explanation here.
View a very detailed explanation of the writing system, as a Powerpoint SlideShow, [[http://languagemuseum.org/menu/japanese_writing.pptDownload a writing practice sheet for hiragana here.

Hiragana and Katakana!
See a whole hiragana chart here. You can click on the characters to hear the sounds and learn the stroke order. Practice writing them on a piece of paper, or ask your teacher for special boxed writing-practice pages.NEW! Print out hiragana writing practice pages here.
Play a hiragana game here!
Play a crazy-difficult and fast hiragana game here. Click on hint each time and you will be able to play!
NEW! PLAY DRAG AND DROP HIRAGANA CHART! See how quickly you can drag the hiragana to their correct spots! Click here.
HIRAGANA game - see if you can choose the right hiragana to complete the line of the chart! Click here.

Dictionaries
CLICK HERE.FOR A TERRIFIC ONLINE JAPANESE-ENGLISH DICTIONARY.
LOOK UP KANJI AND STROKE ORDER ALSO. THANKS TO SAVANNAH FOR THIS LINK!
Want your own Japanese dictionary? You can buy one online. Also check the "used" ones, they can be cheaper. Clickhere.